President George W. Bush’s tax cuts are set to expire on December 31st. While Democrats labeled these temporary tax cuts as “only for the rich,” these expiring cuts will drastically impact the middle and lower classes in America. The U.S. Congress should pass an extension of these tax cuts at least for those in the tax brackets below $100,000. The reality of the situation is that 85% of Americans earn less than $100,000 per year, and only 5.5% of Americans earn more than $150,000.

I have put together a chart of the current tax rates to compare them with what they were before the Bush tax cuts, and it’s below. As a college student, my tax rate is at the current 15% rate, and would increase over 60% to 25% if these tax cuts are allowed to sunset.

The national yearly deficits and long term debt in the United States is increasingly in the focus. People, regardless of political persuasion, generally recognize our current path is unsustainable. We got here through increased spending by both parties on programs and wars, as well as through substantial tax cuts for the wealthy.

The question is what do we do about it? While one could write volumes on ideas to deal with the national debt, there are three key areas that I feel deserve more debate:

1) Reforming our approach to assistance to the working class and those in poverty